Why Tiger tales made it to the silver screen

AFL footy clubs all boast their share of celebrity supporters,
many of whom wave their club's flag wherever they go. Occasionally,
some of them do so spectacularly, as is the case of Richmond fan
Craig Rosenberg, a Los Angeles-based film director whose
credits include the just-released movie Half Light, starring
Demi Moore. Evidence that Rosenberg is a Tiger tragic
include having tapes of all Richmond games sent to him in America
and that one of his prized possessions is a little tiger gnome that
takes pride of place on the porch of his LA home. And this. Now,
only the very astute of movie buffs would have noticed it but those
of us, particularly Richmond fans, who haven't seen Half
Light but are planning to do so should look out for it because
it is a classic. Moore, you see, plays the part of a mystery writer
and the movie's opening credits include a montage of her writing
awards and a list of best sellers, most notably Where is Helen
d'Amico? written by Kevin Bartlett, and Roach's
Screamer, by Tom Hafey. It will, of course, be news to
Tiger legend Bartlett that he ever wrote a book about the 1982
grand final streaker and news also to ace coach Hafey that he ever
penned a tribute to his star centre half-forward but celluloid
history will now tell us otherwise. Not that this is the first time
a member of the Rosenberg family has shown its great love of
Richmond. Craig's brother, Melbourne-based Brett, tells us
their father Ron taught Hafey's brother Peter the
piano, and their sister Lisa was born on September 27, 1969,
the day the Tigers beat Carlton in the grand final, requiring dad
to leave the game at half-time. Says Brett, a composer, who wrote
the music score for Half Light: "We have a letter from (then
Richmond president) Ian Wilson congratulating both us and
Richmond for our good timing."

Hawk fan Dew

PLENTY of quirky little stories to come out of Gavin
Wanganeen's testimonial last week, which was attended by many
big AFL names, including his former coach Kevin Sheedy. One
of them was from a follow-up column written on Port's website by
Stuart Dew in which he reveals that not only was he a mad
Hawthorn fan as a kid but his favourite player was Hawk star
John Platten. And once, as a shy eight-year-old, he spotted
Sheedy at the local airport and, after much prodding by his father,
eventually approached the Essendon coach and asked him for his
autograph. Said Dew: "I mumbled, 'Please can I have your
autograph?' and he replied, 'Only if you play for Essendon one
day'. I replied, 'Only if you get John Platten to the Dons 'cos I'm
a Hawthorn supporter'."

Mum's the word

ST KILDA fans were not the only ones with their hearts in their
mouths when Brendon Goddard went down after that horrible
clash against Richmond on Saturday. So did the producers of Channel
Ten's Before The Game, who had pencilled him in for an
appearance on the show that night. That he finally made it was
thanks to his mother more than anything else. Much to Goddard's
embarrassment, not only did she rush to the Saints' dressing rooms
when he was taken from the ground on a stretcher but after the
game, she also drove him to Ten's studios, was even in the audience
to watch over him and took him home afterwards.

Jason on loan

AND was that really Jason Akermanis behind the cameras during
Before The Game on Saturday? The answer is no, it wasn't
 as was the vision of him answering calls on Ten's
switchboard, it was taken from its sister station in Brisbane where
Aka had done a segment with Ten's Brad McEwen earlier in the
week.

Best, worst (1)

AN INTERESTING stat awaiting Essendon at the Sydney Cricket Ground
next Saturday night. Just six years ago, the Bombers beat every
team in the league  reader David Goodwin points out
that a loss to Sydney would mean they had been beaten by every team
in 2006.

Best, worst (2)

HOW does this work? Colin Montgomerie's final tee shot in
the US Open has been voted international golf's shot of the month,
for which he receives a trophy and a $2400 cheque to donate to a
charity of his choice. Yep, this is the same shot from which he
then proceeded to make double bogey, handing the championship to
Australia's Geoff Ogilvy.

Shoaib on show

CLUB cricketers taking on the likes of Andrew Flintoff is
one thing  spare a thought for members of the St George team
in the third division of the English Midlands league of Birmingham.
Taking the new ball for their opponent Berkswell next Saturday will
be Shoaib Akhtar, the fastest bowler ever to draw blood. The
Pakistan star is recovering from a stress fracture in his left
ankle and is looking for match practice in preparation for his
return to the Test team for the series against England.

Female boundary riders on outer at Seven

AS THE footy world waits on Channel Seven to decide on the make-up
of its commentary team for its return to AFL broadcasting next
year, one point that has emerged is its on-air match-day line-up
almost certainly will be all-male, right down to the boundary
riders. Since taking over the league rights five years ago, both
Channel Ten and Fox Footy have used females on the boundary,
Tiffany Cherry for the pay-television channel and Christi
Malthouse at Ten. Both networks believe having a feminine touch
on match day has been a successful move but Seven's boss of sport
Saul Shtein is one who has not been a fan. "It's not a
sexist thing but Shtein has made it clear he won't be employing
women as boundary riders for any sort of gender balance," a Seven
insider told us yesterday. "He will simply form a list of
prospective boundary riders and he will pick who he thinks is best,
probably ex-AFL players to provide authoritative ground-level views
of the game. That in itself rules out females. A woman would need
to be an outstanding candidate to make his team."

Why Saul's a legend

SHTEIN will be new to AFL coverage but he brings to the job much
experience gleaned from a television career that started at Channel
Nine way back in the late 1970s when he was a production assistant
for World Series Cricket. In his Fox Sports days, he was regarded
as a bit of a legend in the way he went about things, not least
because he had eight TV sets in his office, another nine scattered
throughout his Sydney home, plus one in his car. Indeed, one of our
favourite stories involved the one he had in his bedroom at home.
Because Fox's English soccer telecasts were early in the morning,
he had his bedside TV positioned on its side so he could watch
without having to raise his head from the pillow.

Who said that?

I have to be realistic. I've read I might never play
again  and that might be the case.

- MICHAEL VAUGHANlays it on the line about
his cricket future with England.

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